forums : General Discussion

so another italian-american called me a wop today

i wasn't really down with it tbh

am i being weird?

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

i dont like it

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

hmm...
I'd hate to sound insensitive but what it a wop???
I have heard it and I understand it is supposed to be insulting/ derogatory..
but what are the origins? what does it translate to??

I know as a mexican being called a spic is weird. Becasue I know it is suppossed to mean something bad.. but I have not context of what a spic is so I don;t take it to heart...
but I feel you.. those words were meant as insults I just don't get offended if I don't understand the context..
and since I love beans I embrace the word beaner like black person re appropriating the word "nigga"

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

this



http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/wop.htm



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According to piston22 ...

hmm...
I'd hate to sound insensitive but what it a wop???
I have heard it and I understand it is supposed to be insulting/ derogatory..
but what are the origins? what does it translate to??

I know as a mexican being called a spic is weird. Becasue I know it is suppossed to mean something bad.. but I have not context of what a spic is so I don;t take it to heart...
but I feel you.. those words were meant as insults I just don't get offended if I don't understand the context..
and since I love beans I embrace the word beaner like black person re appropriating the word "nigga"
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[ broken_records - 16 Jul 2008 12:00 ]

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

so it means handsome man??
I know it has been twisted to a racial slur, but you could be called things much worse than handsome man...

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

i will not stand for it...

some people think it means without papers


either way if they call you a wop they aren't trying to say you are handsome


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According to piston22 ...

so it means handsome man??
I know it has been twisted to a racial slur, but you could be called things much worse than handsome man...
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Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

I think you absolutely have every right to be annoyed.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

its not a cool eh!...
ive been called a WOP pretty much my whole life by a really close family friend, and with him, i deal with it..

but, i feel its like the N word for africans....i mean, not as much hate, but yeah.. same generalization

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

i thought it was okay for one italian to call another italian an italian related epithet....

in the same way that african-americans (which is a term that doesn't make any sense to me, because not all black people come from africa - like jamaicans) call each other by slurs or epithets and consider it OK for them, but would not tolerate it from someone who is outside of their group.

maybe there is less sense of shared community by the italians, and how did you know this person was italian in the first place? is it a friend/co-worker/acquaintence?

what was the context of the slur? was it intended as an insult?

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

it wasn't intended as a slur...
i know this person was italian because she said you are a wop like me...

i just find it insulting that she would think i am cool with that....

and i am no authority on the subject obviously but i am sure there are african americans who aren't cool with being called nigger by f**king anybody....

btw steve i think its funny that you don't think black jamaicans aren't from africa you might want to check your history a bit
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According to djwhizard ...

i thought it was okay for one italian to call another italian an italian related epithet....

in the same way that african-americans (which is a term that doesn't make any sense to me, because not all black people come from africa - like jamaicans) call each other by slurs or epithets and consider it OK for them, but would not tolerate it from someone who is outside of their group.

maybe there is less sense of shared community by the italians, and how did you know this person was italian in the first place? is it a friend/co-worker/acquaintence?

what was the context of the slur? was it intended as an insult?
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[ broken_records - 16 Jul 2008 15:04 ]

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

with out papers doesn't sound as bad as illegal or wetback, or border hopper, but I fell you .. calling people names sucks..
but everything should be taken in context I doubt the italian-american that calle dyou that meant to insult you.. it sounds like the were trying to reapprpriate the term as a term of endearment (I am assuming I wasn't there) either way you have the right to not like it..
there is a great thread on racist paerents going on at 50mmlosangeles.com but most of you guys can't access that site without paying but there was a great back and forth with many people making great points....
on eof the best being that we are all humans.. period .. same especies/race...
race is a myth perpetrated by a dominant social group in order to antagonize or control another.. such as in the (some) USA born americans of white desent toward, asains, blacks, "mexicans" etc.. but it is really all just a load of s**t...
don't buy it.. we're all just human..

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

I have called a few Italians Guidos. Sorry if i offended you

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today



the guido insult made me think of that ^

btw, if you weren't in to it i would tell him and hopefully it will stop.

my jewish friends don't call me kyke.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

this was work related and i will most likely not talk to this person again...it just bugs me that she was ok with it for her...like people have been calling her wop all her life and she is cool with it...

whatevs

and the nj guido s**t bugs too but thats another thing entirely

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According to eecue ...



the guido insult made me think of that ^

btw, if you weren't in to it i would tell him and hopefully it will stop.

my jewish friends don't call me kyke.
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Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

if you trace back history far enough - everyone is from africa.

i wouldn't call white people european americans.

the term to me just seems to unravel the deeper you look into it.

anyways, honestly - if this person didn't mean to insult you, i think you are being kind of uptight about it, and should either mention it to the person, and if its not worth bringing it up to them, its not worth letting yourself be offended by it (letting it bother you).

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According to broken_records ...

it wasn't intended as a slur...
i know this person was italian because she said you are a wop like me...

i just find it insulting that she would think i am cool with that....

and i am no authority on the subject obviously but i am sure there are african americans who aren't cool with being called nigger by f**king anybody....

btw steve i think its funny that you don't think black jamaicans aren't from africa you might want to check your history a bit
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According to djwhizard ...

i thought it was okay for one italian to call another italian an italian related epithet....

in the same way that african-americans (which is a term that doesn't make any sense to me, because not all black people come from africa - like jamaicans) call each other by slurs or epithets and consider it OK for them, but would not tolerate it from someone who is outside of their group.

maybe there is less sense of shared community by the italians, and how did you know this person was italian in the first place? is it a friend/co-worker/acquaintence?

what was the context of the slur? was it intended as an insult?
**********

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Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

actually whiz - jamaicans, haitians, etc. - are all descendants of African slaves as well ... the Native Americans who lived on those islands are now extinct ...

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

no, i understand that (and the African diaspora) completely.

But, it just is funny to me if someone moves here from Jamaica, Haiti, Brazil, Dominican Republic, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. and they have black features - we are going to call them African American - when they may be hundreds and hundreds of years removed from any contact to that continent, and just skip over whatever other culture they have been tied to after.

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According to nightstalker ...

actually whiz - jamaicans, haitians, etc. - are all descendants of African slaves as well ... the Native Americans who lived on those islands are now extinct ...
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Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

PS - good to see you on here Mr. Ramirez. =]

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

hope i wasn't offensive with the oompa loompa photo... that is some seriously strange stuff.

discuss?

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

I think those kids are suffering from an identity crisis..
I don't think lobster is a natural color for humans...



sometimes people are just crazy

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

africans were slaves sold to jamaica in the the early 1800s to work on sugar cane plantations. so they'd be african jamaicans technically right?

[ unifire - 16 Jul 2008 19:28 ]

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

I don't understand being hurt by a racial slur. I mean I'm about as while as it gets, so maybe that's why. But still I have been called plently of things by many other races and it never bothers me.

I think if that's all they got to try and insult me with, its obvious that they ain't got nuthing so why should it bother me? Besides that, words can only hurt you if you allow them to. Are you a Wop? Probably not so why does it bother you so much?

And I know I'm going to hear the "Well your race was never enslaved by another" comment or similar. But still, it didn't happen to any of you. Probably didn't happen to 99% of your parents either. Maybe a few of here and there, but I doubt it.

You can call me a serf all day, and its not going to hurt me.

I dunno. Help me understand.

Really the only people that I can understand a bit is when it comes to the black americans. Their slavery wasn't that long ago in American History and even after slavery, they still didn't have total equal rights until when, the 40's 50's? So I can understand that more than anyone else.

Again, I don't get it. I'm not trying to offend anyone, hope I didn't.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

wow

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

haw dj aware..I don't think you are offending anyone but I think you suffer from a condition known as white privilege
white privilege, a social relation
1. a. A right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities.
b. A special advantage or benefit of white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc.
2. A privileged position; the possession of an advantage white persons enjoy over non–white persons.
3. a. The special right or immunity attaching to white persons as a social relation; prerogative.
b. display of white privilege, a social expression of a white person or persons demanding to be treated as a member or members of the socially privileged class.
4. a. To invest white persons with a privilege or privileges; to grant to white persons a particular right or immunity; to benefit or favor specially white persons; to invest white persons with special honorable distinctions.
b. To avail oneself of a privilege owing to one as a white person.
5. To authorize or license of white person or persons what is forbidden or wrong for non–whites; to justify, excuse.
6. To give to white persons special freedom or immunity from some liability or burden to which non–white persons are subject; to exempt.

or


Daily effects of white privilege

I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and time of work cannot count on most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

these were both stolen definitions.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

Iv'e been called a WOP a bunch, it doesn't really bother me much. Can get annoying and repetitive when constantly coming from the same source though.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

It took me a long time but look at it this way being offended by a slur. Puts you in the same mental state that the person who insulted you. Slurs are just that words meant to shock and get attention for that moment.

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

What he said, FUCK EM. im full sicilian and moved here from Sicily when i was five and never let that s**t bother me. Maybe they are jealous that we're Italian Stallions and they're not.

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According to funcrusherplus ...


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[ needledamage - 22 Jul 2008 11:57 ]

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

do u know how to make rice balls?

Re: so another italian-american called me a wop today

i wouldnt take it so close to heart. they're just words that are used loosely. just know if someone can only describe you w/one word then they are probably lacking in creativity as well as some education. you should laugh next time the person say's that and they're response will be "Why are you laughing?" and your response could be "Is that seriously the only word you can use to describe me?". let them feel a little stupid. this should teach them to choose they're words wisely in a social situation.
in other words dont just get angry and bottle your feelings educate those around you. that's why we are human beings. we are here to learn from each other, not to hate. communication is key.